RIYADH: Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA) President Abdullah Al Ghamdi emphasized the critical importance of ethical AI usage, positioning Saudi Arabia as a global leader in responsible AI deployment for societal benefit during a press conference ahead of the third GAIN Summit.

Al Ghamdi highlighted the summit's core theme, saying, “With respect to this summit, this summit will cover different aspects. But the main thing for this summit is the GAIN, the ‘N’ has three N’s the next, now and never.”

He told Arab News that: “‘Never’ has to do with the ethics, where AI has to stop. We are going to talk about the ‘Never’ big time, different ethics and different aspects related to the principles of using AI in a responsible way.”

He explained that that agency is “continuing what we started in the national arena,” bringing the conversation on AI safety to global summits the Kingdom has recently taken part.

The GAIN Summit, organized by SDAIA, will take place from Sept. 10-12 at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center, under the patronage of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The event will feature 456 speakers and 150 sessions, with approximately 70 Memoranda of Understanding expected to be signed.

During his interview, the SDAIA president addressed growing global concerns about AI misuse and highlighted the Kingdom’s proactive approach through various policies, including the creation of a National Data Management Office, which oversees the development of policies and regulations related to data control and management.

“We established a national data management office, this office is concerned with issuing policies and laws for the respect of the control and management of data,” he told Arab News.

Al Ghamdi detailed the national initiatives led by the Kingdom to address global AI concerns such as ethical use and data protection.

“We have published a number of policies with respect to data sharing and the freedom of information,” he said.

“Recently we published the principles of Gen AI on how we can use AI in an ethical way. We (also) announced the national AI ethics framework, and this was designed according to the UNESCO ethics framework principles the 7 principles.”

Esam Alwagait, Director of the National Information Center, reinforced Al Ghamdi’s remarks, stating, “All policies align with ensuring ethical AI practices.”

Al Ghamdi also highlighted policies aimed at protecting children’s data, noting that recent guidelines have been introduced to safeguard children in the digital age.

During his remarks, the SDAIA president also stated that the Kingdom is “open to all opportunities from the East and the West,” and expressed a willingness to collaborate with global leaders in AI from the US, Europe, and Asia.

Yasser Al Onaizan , CEO of the National Center for AI also weighted in the debate, underscoring the need for “ethics by design” in AI development.

“It’s not enough to have policies,” he said. “It’s very important to start thinking to design AI solutions that have the ethics as a design principle form the get-go,” Al Onaizan told Arab News in response to a question on the subject.

He added: “It should not be a reaction to something that happens, you have to install it in everyone who works in the AI development cycle.”

On the sidelines of the summit, SDAIA is set to host the GAIN podcast featuring top CEOs and industry leaders such as Dr. Jake P. Taylor-King Co- founder of Relation Therapeutics, Tahir Latif, Global Practice Lead on AI & Data Privacy, at Cognizant Technology Solutions and Lorena Puica, founder and CEO of syd.life, science-backed and AI-powered life quality platform.

LONDON: NGO officials have accused Britain’s public broadcaster of "blocking" a major humanitarian appeal for Gaza.

The BBC, which placed the appeal “under review,” is said to be concerned over a potential backlash from supporters of Israel.

Several other television channels have agreed to air the humanitarian appeal for the embattled Palestinian enclave.

The campaign is organized by the Disasters Emergency Committee, The Guardian reported on Friday.

The BBC claimed DEC’s appeal had failed to meet all the criteria for a national appeal but noted that the option to air it was “under review,” a position that dismayed the DEC, an umbrella group of UK charities.

Sources within the DEC, the BBC and aid agencies accused the BBC of “blocking” the appeal because it feared backlash from groups supporting Israel in its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

One senior NGO figure said that staff were “furious” at the BBC’s decision.

The DEC follows three criteria when launching an appeal. The scale and urgency of the disaster must warrant immediate international humanitarian aid.

DEC member agencies, or some of them, must be able “to provide effective and swift humanitarian assistance at a scale to justify a national appeal” and there must be “evidence of existing public sympathy for the humanitarian situation” or “the likelihood of significant public support should an appeal be launched,” according to the DEC’s website.

The DEC is an umbrella organization of 15 leading UK aid charities raising funds to address humanitarian disasters.

Israel’s onslaught on Gaza, launched in response to the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack, has so far killed more than 40,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Relentless bombardment over the past 11 months has devastated medical and sanitation infrastructure, razed entire neighborhoods, almost annihilated the education sector, brought the enclave’s healthcare system to its knees and displaced about 90 percent of Gaza’s population at least once.

An enormous humanitarian response is needed to address the overlapping crises, aid officials have warned.

About 96 percent of Gaza’s population is facing acute food insecurity, according to UN figures.

The vast majority of the international community has repeatedly called for a ceasefire to enable uninterrupted aid flow into Gaza, to no avail.